In Their Own Words – Will’s Angel

We recently received the following e-mail and poem submission:
Two years ago my son had a very trying school year. It was riddled with setbacks and aggressive behaviors. This year was the opposite. He and his classmates were introduced to another new teacher but his year was quite different. She inspired my words below, as I imagine the feelings through my son’s eyes. I wanted to share it with you.

Before we met, I walked a world,
Couldn’t see quite eye to eye,
My mind held back ten thousand words,
Like wind against the tide.

You found a way to speak to me,
You found your way inside,
You called me out to play with you,
You found me where I hide.

I like to do the things you ask,
I try so hard each day,
I like it when you smile at me,
It tells me I’m okay.

You teach me not to be afraid,
I watch you every day,
Your face says you are brave and kind,
And fear won’t win today.

You gave a gift I can’t repay,
You wrapped it gracefully,
My mom says you reached in your heart,
And gave me dignity.

I think that there are angels now,
But the right time it must be,
And I thank God for knowing this,
And for sending mine to me.

This “In Their Own Words” poem was written by Julie Jones, a mother who has a son with autism.

“In Their Own Words” is a series within the Autism Speaks blog which shares the voices of people who have autism, as well as their loved ones. If you have a story you wish to share about your personal experience with autism, please send it to editors@autismspeaks.org. Autism Speaks reserves the right to edit contributions for space, style and content. Because of the volume of submissions, not all can be published on the site.

Great poem. As a brother of a young adult with autism, I can definitely relate to this. Sometimes, I don’t accept my brother for who he is – and often wonder why he acts the way he does. Thanks for the reminder for us to accept them for who they are and to genuinely love and care for them.

I would love to re-post your poem to teachers all over America. We are not doing too well with the budget cuts. This poem reminded me why we love teaching. I am a school nurse and health teacher and you are magnificent.

The poem is just beautiful, it made me cry. Please allow us to post it or copy it and send it to some wonderful people who work with autistic children. I know a wonderful teacher who deserves this poem too. Thank you so much for posting it.

That is a beautiful poem…It brought me to tears! I have a son who is autistic and his Kindergarten teacher was such a beautiful soul and will never truly understand what an impact she had on my son’s life…I understand how you felt when you wrote this!

What a beautiful poem! My son will be starting 8th grade in the fall and believe me, he’s had his share of less-than-stellar teachers. But there have been a couple that have really looked for the person that he has hiding deep, down inside and those are the teachers that have helped him make the most progress. I hope that your son continues to have teachers like this!

this poem is so personal, and it is so beautiful. my 3yr old grandson has autism and just reading it, even though i don’t get to see him because of his parents being mad at me, i can set back and think of him and see him saying this poem and it discribes a child with autism and what they are seeing. thank you so much for posting it and letting everyone read it.

Thank you for giving your child a voice through poetry. As a teacher who works daily with many students facing autism it is nice to hear these inspirational words. I hope your son’s progress continues. I plan to share your poem with the rest of our staff so they can read this when they have a frustrating day or are not sure if they are really making a difference. May God continue to give you strength for your journey…

Beautiful!!! Thia poem also brought tears to my eyes. I have a 13yr old son with PDD NOS –last year was just a waste of time as far as school went, as well as 4th and 5th grade. It takes a VERY SPECIAL person to work and to teach our very special children. So far i have only met 2. I know he will have the same teacher next year and is already showing signs of depressioni regarding going to school and having this teacher again. Also writing the poem thru your childs eyes was briliant!!! Because that is the way you have to see things you have to look at everything thru THE CHILDS EYES!! What we see and what they see are 2 very different things. Thank you so much for sharing Lisa Mango I hope he has the same teacher again this year!! God Bless all of you!!